


the art of an accord

by harrietspecter



Category: Transplant (TV 2020)
Genre: Claire & Wendy BFF adventures, F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-29
Updated: 2020-12-27
Packaged: 2021-03-09 19:15:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,539
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27781378
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/harrietspecter/pseuds/harrietspecter
Summary: Claire Malone and Wendy Atwater do dinner and drinks once a month to keep sane from the men, bad habits, and hospital drama. An adventure in the "Claire and Wendy are BFFs" land.
Relationships: Claire Malone & Wendy Atwater, Jed Bishop/Claire Malone
Comments: 2
Kudos: 7





	1. then

_Then:_

Claire Malone watches as Wendy Atwater stalks away from exam room c. She’s snapping off her gloves into the bin with an exaggerated but silent huff before moving towards the elevator bank. Lingering with her patient folder open on the desk in front of her, Claire keeps an eye out for movement. Sure enough, a few minutes later, Doctor Woolsey exits the room with the patient file in his hands. Claire isn’t the nurse in charge of that patient, but Rhoda is and Rhoda is the gossipy kind of nurse who’d share details with anyone willing to give her a few seconds of time. Gossipy enough that Claire knew Wendy had the lab test for her theory of sickle cell and Woolsey was currently taking credit for the other doctor’s theory and diagnosis. And, it wasn’t the first time. Granted, Claire wasn’t the one who asked what was up with the patient who had been there for about nine hours. She had just been at her desk reviewing discharges for the discharge data dump to the exchange when Rhoda and an ambulatory nurse walked between the desks discussing the patient in question. 

Claire watched as Woolsey signed off on the treatment plan and stuck it in the pile for nurses to review and begin treatment. With an extra spring in his step, Claire’s eyes followed him down the hallway that leads to the attending doctor and department chief offices. When the coast was clear, Claire headed in the opposite direction.

Wendy Atwater had a closet of an office. It’s the best description Claire could come up with as she meandered down the hall of offices where the tenured doctors were able to take a break from the chaos of the emergency room. She had to share with an overnight doctor, but it seemed to Claire like they were handling sharing offices fine since there was little chaos like the other offices she passed. 

Claire rapped her knuckles on the doorframe, watching as Wendy moved her head to turn to the noise and lift her eyes from the desktop computer. 

“Claire,” Wendy dips her chin in a nod. “What can I do for you?”

“I have to go out of town this weekend,” Claire begins. 

Weekend meaning Thursday and Friday because healthcare doesn’t run on the typical Saturday and Sunday weekends like the 9 to 5 office workers.

“But,” Claire continues before Wendy can interject. “I was thinking we could go out tonight instead of tomorrow.” 

They usually go out on the third Thursday because Claire’s day off is Thursday and Wendy teaches at York University on Thursdays. It means when they go out, they’re actually functional human beings instead of exhausted from a 12-hour shift or the occasional double. 

Wendy looks at the date on the computer and she nods.

“Your mom’s birthday is Friday.”

Claire slowly nods.

“Fifty.”

“Party?”

Claire laughs mostly to herself as she nods.

“I think my brothers have bought out all the alcohol and tiki torches in Haliburton. I get to take her to the driving range on Friday.”

Wendy imagines Claire golfing and really can’t picture anything but a disaster waiting to happen.

“Have you golfed?”

“Nope,” Claire bites her lip as she keeps herself from laughing. “Eric has some clubs I can probably borrow. It doesn’t look that hard on television when he watches it.”

Wendy laughs outright and Claire chuckles quietly. 

“Who am I to deny my mother what she really wants to do while they gather everyone for the surprise party. Our mother and daughter bonding time is usually going around the area and finding the best food spots. Now that she’s closer to retirement, she’s trying to take up a sport, I guess.”

Claire shrugs. Her mother is odd, but what mother isn't odd in their child's eyes.

Wendy knows Claire’s mother isn’t her flesh and blood mother. She knows Claire ran away from her birth family at age fifteen and has never looked back. Wendy also knows Claire has a soft spot for the runaways and the frequent fliers and the ones who have been down and out. Her brothers and sisters are all the kids Frankie Malone supervised during visitations or kept grounded as they were bounced in and out of the system since they’re not babies and kids, especially the older kids, are harder to place in forever homes.

“I think Alex has some clubs you can borrow. I think Eric’s might be too tall for you,” Wendy lets her know. “Well, Alex’s might be a little shorter since she’s only in grade eight. And, you can always rent them. But, if you want, I can ask her.”

Wendy trails off. They can always discuss this later when they’re not on shift.

“Wanting anything in particular?” Claire asks as she brings the conversation back to dinner.

Wendy looks to her schedule for the rest of the day. Reminds herself she still has to deal with Woolsey when they talk about patient treatments at the round table today at 3:00 pm.

“Alcohol,” Wendy sighs aloud.

Claire chuckles and nods a few times.

“I’ve, uh, been on a queso kick as of late?” Claire notes.

“The one Mexican place off Queen West,” Wendy finishes. 

They’ve been there before and the waitress never looks at them strangely when they order another basket of chips even though the queso comes with flour tortillas.

Claire’s watch beeps, signalling another hour of work down, and she leans her temple against the doorjamb for a moment. 

“I’ll meet you in the atrium?” Claire asks.

Claire likes and uses the metro. Eric’s the one with the car in their household.

“Sounds good. Thank you, Claire.”

Claire purses her lips and dips her chin before she spins on her heel and heads back to the chaos of the emergency department nurse's desk.

* * *

They choose the bar area because it's ironically quieter than the dining area. There’s music instead of televisions going in the bar tonight which might have been the reason for it being less populated. The vaulted ceilings carry the echoes of conversation. They sit closer to the bar than the windows. It’s not like they can’t be friends, but this place is still close enough to the hospital that a wayward staff member might invite themselves over if they saw either one of them through the windows.

The complimentary chips and salsa are brought out with two glasses of water before they order their margaritas. Since the queso is technically still on the appetizers page, they made the agreement to finish a basket of chips before ordering.

When the margaritas come, they both take a long sip before they both relax against the back of their respective chairs. Claire chuckles.

“How was the rest of your shift?” Claire starts, using her drink’s straw to stir absentmindedly.

Wendy leans over and takes a chip and dips it in the hotter salsa before answering. She recounts the patient from earlier. Talks about the roundtable that Jed Bishop had started when he took over as staff attending three years ago where he gathers the doctors in a room and sometimes they’ll work out a hard diagnosis. Sometimes they’ll just discuss patient care. Wendy’s told him she’s become a better doctor because of the sessions.

They absently eat their chips and salsa while sipping on their drinks as Wendy recalls this afternoon.

“Woolsey started on our patient. When Bishop asked for details on how he figured out the diagnosis, it stumped him a little.”

Claire didn’t miss the brief moment of satisfaction on Wendy’s face. She’s sure Jed Bishop hadn’t missed it earlier if Wendy had tried for this same poker face.

“I think Bishop knows Richard isn’t as good as he portrays. But I’ve been burned twice before and I’m not eager to do it again.”

“I’ve only worked a few patients with him, but, uh, not my favourite doctor,” Claire tells her. “I can deal with egos, but he really takes the cake. At least most of you respect the nurses on your case.”

Wendy hums in agreement around her straw as she drinks.

“He is shorter than you,” Claire points out with a chuckle. “Maybe he has an inferiority complex.”

“Could be the receding hairline,” Wendy counters with a laugh, too.

“Mmh,” Claire agrees and tips her margarita glass in Wendy’s direction. “You have hair and are taller.”

Wendy can’t help the bubble of laughter and she’s glad she can commiserate with Claire about their day before she goes home to her family.

“Save any lives today?” Wendy asks as she gets Claire to talk about her day.

Between the craziness with onboarding the new pediatric fellow and the interviews for a triage position, Claire doesn’t hold a candle to the day Wendy’s had.

The waitress sees they’re down to the last remaining chips and makes her way over. After all, they’re kind of regulars here. Claire orders the beans and queso while Wendy goes for the chorizo queso. Claire asks for another basket and the tomatillo salsa, too. With their orders in, Claire looks over at Wendy. She swirls the dregs of her margarita a few times in her glass, watching the little whirl of liquid and ice before she tips the straw and finishes it one go.

“I’m sleeping with Jed,” she tells Wendy Atwater abruptly. It was a little muffled with the volume of the restaurant this particular night. But she knows Wendy got her drift as the woman’s brow raised before she nodded once. 

“So,” Claire says as she purses her lips and sighs. “If you, uh, need an unofficial channel to switch schedules or something without being burned, just let me know.” 

Claire doesn’t miss the fact Wendy’s eyes track her left hand and sees she still has a wedding band on her finger. She even talked about Eric this afternoon.

“Not our brightest idea,” Claire shrugs. 

Wendy opens her mouth to say something but halts herself. 

“You can ask,” Claire shrugs her shoulders and leans into the table. “This can be the circle of trust.” 

“How long?” Wendy leans into the tabletop. 

Claire counts, mentally recounting the dates between when it started and today.

“Almost two years.” 

She notes Wendy’s surprise even though the woman tries to conceal it. They’re very discreet. 

“How’d it start?” Wendy wonders. 

Their waitress interrupts to bring another basket of chips and salsa and another margarita for each of them. 

Claire takes a sip of her drink before she dives into how it all began as Wendy determines which salsa is the hotter of the bunch brought to them.

“I had just gotten my trauma certification and was offered the acute spot on the night shift. Jed offered to make me dinner. We had always been a little flirty, I guess? He was always hanging around the triage desk whenever I was there. Enjoyed commenting on my way of sorting patients by looking at them instead of just trusting the coding system that categorizes patient treatment.” 

Wendy’s seen the banter. Jedidiah Bishop is a very competent emergency attending doctor. He runs the schedules well. Rarely are they understaffed for doctors in the emergency department. She respects him and he respects her. He's also a sucker for Claire Malone's quips. After all, she's one of very few who aren't afraid of his gruff exterior or hyperfocus on exceptional patient treatment and efficiency. 

“He had every intention, I think, you know, of making dinner and whatever. He had all the ingredients, but we never made it there?”

Wendy laughs silently to herself for a brief moment. 

“Who?” Wendy starts. 

“I started it,” Claire tells her, already knowing what she’s going to ask. “It wasn’t even like it was a spectacular kiss or anything. I mean, he was still in his dress pants and shirt from the hospital. He had rolled up his sleeves before he started washing the veggies. He offered wine and made me be his assistant chef. I think he was scrubbing the potatoes and was monologuing about how it would be a benefit to trauma that they’d have me inside the ER rather than at the admitting desk and I just sort of kissed him? He was in shock for a moment, I think, but then he started kissing me back. One thing led to another and here we are now almost two years later.” 

Claire sips a little more of her margarita and laughs at the memory for a brief moment. She hadn’t thought about that in a while. 

“We also never had dinner. Well, that dinner he was planning on making. Instead, he made grilled cheese and told me he’d make a proper dinner next week. It, uhh, it was a while before we would actually have dinner or drinks before just, well, getting on with the main event.” 

Wendy bites her lip to keep from laughing aloud at Claire’s euphemism since they were in a little more upscale restaurant. 

Claire’s eyebrows raise as if she’s ready for further questioning or maybe an accusation. But none come from Wendy.

“I met my husband during my residency in Colorado Springs,” Wendy tells Claire as Claire digs into the second round of chips and salsa. “He’s an adrenaline junkie and decided he’d take his motorcycle up Pikes. Wasn’t wearing suitable pants and touched down a few times enough for a nasty case of road rash on his legs.”

For her birthday four years ago, Wendy invited Claire to jump out of an airplane with her. Being the adventurous type, Claire agreed. Andrew, Wendy’s husband, was the most experienced from the joint military exercises the Air Force did with the Navy and Marine corps and went solo.

“He swore I was military,” Wendy continues with a laugh. “You don’t really get to wear your hair down in emergency like you would in radiology. Told me my buns looked like a colonel he’d been stationed with in Ramstein.”

Claire laughed at the implied innuendo and Wendy eventually chuckled with her. Although Claire has known Andrew almost as long as she’s known Wendy, she’s never actually known how they met.

“Jed knows Woolsey’s less competent than he’s led the Chief to be,” Claire ties everything back together as she breaks a particularly large chip in half as Wendy drinks from her margarita glass. “Unfortunately, the Chief is best friends with the Medical Director and Woolsey has the Medical Director in his pocket.”

“The boys club,” Wendy deduces.

Claire nods. Neither is surprised.

“Smash the patriarchy,” Wendy sighs as she reaches for her drink.

Claire reaches for her own and holds it in a salute before they both drink.

“So, can I ask how Eric is?” Wendy asks as their waitress comes from the kitchen with the bubbling cast iron skillets of melted cheese and flour tortillas and places them in front of their respective consumers.

“Fine,” Claire shrugs. “Hates desk duty, I think.”

It’s not as if Wendy doesn’t know Eric. Once upon a time, he’d been a frequent flyer at the hospital. Not the drug-seeking variety, but one of the constables in the Royal Canadian Mounted Police force stationed in the heart of the city. He’d been at the hospital one time a few years ago after a funeral to seek out Claire and tell her he’d be returning home late in the evening. He’d asked Wendy if she knew where Claire Malone was and Claire had seen the appreciative glance Wendy gave her husband after the good doctor had pointed towards the nurse’s desk. The more formal garb with the wide-brimmed Stetson felt hat hid Eric’s unruly hair that Claire had thought was one of his more attractive traits. The red serge was a little less flattering than his normal wear, but his toned form was still felt as she greeted him with a swift hug and pressed her lips to his cheek.

He was a staff sergeant now. Less action and more paperwork. A desk job unless something drastic happened.

“You think?” Wendy tilts her head in askance.

Claire shrugs.

“We don’t really talk anymore,” she says as she dips a chip in the queso and takes a moment to watch Wendy’s reaction.

“Therapy and marriage counselling only works if you want it to,” Claire continues. “He’s been stagnant where I’ve been moving up in the ranks. I don't know. I guess it's hard for both of us.”

Wendy nods thoughtfully. She and Andrew had a different sort of relationship so she couldn’t really pinpoint some assistance that might help Claire and Eric’s rough patches. Quite the opposite, she and Andrew had a long discussion on careers and family throughout their marriage. He’d been given an honourable discharge from the United States military. His knees hadn’t been what they were when he first joined at 18 years old. So, he had retired as a respectable rank of lieutenant colonel and became a stay at home dad to William and Alexandra while Wendy rose to the chief resident, fellow, and finally physician. They only had to move twice since Colorado Springs as Wendy outgrew her hospital.

“He wants a baby,” Claire purses her lips as she reaches for her drink. “I told him a baby doesn’t fix things but makes problems even worse.” 

Wendy tilted her head a little but said nothing. Claire did have a point. Especially those first few months when the baby and new parents are adjusting to the new relationship status quo and sleep deprived on top of general work and life stressors. 

“I can only shoulder so much of the burden,” Claire sighs.

“If you need anything,” Wendy trails off.

Claire’s not afraid to ask for help. She knows what her strengths and weaknesses are. Wendy finds it refreshing.

“Thank you,” Claire nods.

After a brief nod, Wendy and Claire finally really turn to the food in front of them. Wendy dives in with her tortilla, using the spoon to layer the melty cheese into a little rollup.

“I forget how good this is,” Wendy says after a mouthful.

Claire nods, mouth full of chips, beans, and cheese.

The rest of their dinner conversation is less focused on the difficult subjects.

* * *

“I think I like Wednesdays more,” Claire says as she looks out at the lights of the city as Wendy drives her home. “I think.” 

“We can do Wednesdays,” Wendy agrees. It’s really Claire that typically takes a Wednesday double whose sanity she wants to keep. 

The soft sounds of the cello fill the comfortable silence of Wendy’s car for the fifteen minutes it takes to reach Claire and Eric’s townhouse. 

Eric is out on the stoop and raises a hand as Wendy parks at the curb. Wendy waves back even though it’s dark and he most likely can’t see her very well. 

“One condition,” Wendy’s voice halts Claire’s hand on the handle to open the car door. 

Claire turns and raises a brow in curiosity. 

“No cancelling Wednesdays for the guys,” Wendy notes as her eyes narrow. 

Claire lifts her fingers and holds them to her chest in a Girl Guides promise. 

“Promise,” Claire agrees with a slight grin. 

“No 'in case of an emergency' clause?” Wendy chuckles. 

Claire tilts her head with a laugh bubbling up she doesn’t try to contain. 

“I would guess in an emergency, Jed would be diverted to York Memorial no matter where he is. You guys live close enough that Andrew or the kids would be diverted there. So, we’d probably be paged. Eric would be the only unknown party but, as I said, he doesn’t usually do much of anything these days but go to work and sit at home.” 

Claire subtly gestures to his form sitting on the stoop. 

“Tell Alexandra and William that they need to come and hang out with their Aunt Claire,” Claire looks pointedly at Wendy. 

“Will do,” Wendy nods, knowing full well Alexandra would love to hang out with her cool aunt rather than her dreadful mother who makes her do chores and homework. 

“Good night, Wendy. Thanks for the ride.” 

Claire shuts the door and taps on the top of the car before she makes her way down the sidewalk. Wendy watches as Claire moves up to the stoop and greets Eric. 

Claire runs her fingers through Eric’s hair, tilting his face up towards her before Claire gives him a half a smile and gracefully spins herself to sit next to him as Wendy pulls away from the curb to close out her own long day.


	2. now

_Now_ :

Wendy Atwater shook her head as Jed Bishop waited at the admissions/reception desk with a patient folder and not so subtly checked the time on his wristwatch. 

“I don’t know which is harder to watch, this time or last time,” Wendy watches as Jed’s head pops up and he frowns a little. 

“Didn’t your shift end twelve minutes ago? Shouldn’t you be running out of here and leaving your staff to cover the workload until tomorrow?” 

“Claire’s running late,” Wendy reminds him of his loitering. “She had to deal with a patient who claims his only name is Chuck. Says he finally got a name three years after being introduced to the world.” 

Wendy had been the attending available at the time. The patient, however, only wanted to be treated by Claire. Said she was the only doctor he trusted to take care of him. Claire had reminded the patient more than once that she was a nurse, not a doctor.

“Opioids? Stimulants?” Jed asks curiously. 

Wendy shakes her head. 

“Nope. No psych condition either. A pretty stable kid until you try to get a personal or medical history.” 

“American?”

They occasionally have the rogue American needing emergency treatment.

“Vancouver,” Wendy shakes her head as she answers. “Says he’s going around Canada to all the science museums to press all the buttons and figure out what he should do in life.” 

“As long as he’s got a purpose,” Jed shrugs with a chuckle.

“She’s handing off the search to Viv, but it seems he really only has a first name. If Claire can’t find anything on him, there’s little doubt Viv will find more.”

Jed hums curiously. It’s true. Claire is a super sleuth. There’s never a dull moment these days at York Memorial’s emergency department with winter looming.

Wendy looks at the time above one of the admissions desks and figures she has another five minutes left in her wait for Claire. 

They move out to the atrium and take a seat on the bench by the planter box on the right side of the walkway. They’re a little hidden from view, but this is where Claire usually sits if she needs a few minutes away from the hospital without having to go on her break or lunch. 

Jed takes a moment to look at Wendy. She’s typically in scrubs whenever he sees her. So, it’s nice to see she does own a real wardrobe. Apparently red is a theme on their Wednesday dinner and drinks day since he knows Claire is also wearing a red shirt with her jeans. Granted, he really only knows what Claire wears because he watches her pick out her clothes almost every morning.

“You look nice,” Jed tries for a compliment. 

Wendy looks down at herself and then thanks him. 

“I think this was the first outfit in the pile of folded wash.”

Jed chuckles, knowing that was hardly the case.

“Am I allowed to ask where you’re going tonight?” Jed queries. He asks every time. 

Granted, so does Andrew when she leaves for work and reminds him that she’ll be home later because it's date night with Claire.

“Legends,” Wendy reminds him. It's on their blocked off calendar invite at work, reminding them that this Wednesday is the day to go out and the location is there just in case something happens. After all, Jed knows Claire’s passwords just like Claire knows his own. Perhaps not the wisest thing to do professionally, but they never take advantage of the knowledge. Plus, Claire would probably be able to guess his password even if he wasn’t willing to share.

“Oh,” Jed nods. “Good cheese sticks. Lousy poutine, though.”

Legends is a gastro-pub that specializes in whisky drinks and has a thing for specialty cheeses. One of their most popular menu items was the fried cheese sticks. It's sort of more his kind of restaurant where he’d sip a drink, eat some fish and chips, and ask to have the Scottish Premiership on the television. He’d taken Claire and Jonah there a few months ago. Claire was interested in the whisky flight and stealing his fries while he and Jonah watched the Rangers and Aberdeen match.

“Claire said she needed some cheese,” Wendy tells him.

Claire enters the atrium and sighs aloud, knowing it’s a safe space with the two familiar faces sitting on her bench. 

“Hi,” she greets them both. 

She doesn’t sit. Instead, she leans against the bench near Jed. Her hand moves over his shoulder and she runs her fingers down the nape of his neck in a silent greeting. 

“How’s Chuck?” Wendy greets Claire as Claire narrows her eyes before laughing. 

“Well, he was starting in on the science of creating a stable, artificial wormhole when I left him with Arnold and Viv. So, I’m assuming he’s great.” 

Wendy stands and shoulders her purse. She watches as Claire stands in front of Jed and holds out her hands for him to grasp. He does quickly and she tugs, pulling him off the bench. Claire wraps an arm around his waist and leans in as she kisses him. He feels her smile just before she leans away and she hums. 

Her green eyes meet his own blue before she kisses him again. This time she lingers a little longer. 

“Don’t stay too late,” she whispers with a knowing look before he can even protest he’d ever do such a thing. 

She leans away and tilts her head a little in a silent good night. 

“Good night, Claire,” he sighs, a little wistful. 

Claire loops her arm into Wendy’s own as they make their way to the parking garage to get on with their dinner and drinks.

* * *

They’re seated relatively quickly in the quieter section of the restaurant. The acoustics still bounce voices around but there are fewer people on this side of the restaurant, so they still have a chance at having decent privacy for a conversation. 

“I felt like today was never going to end,” Claire sighs as the hostess leaves Claire and Wendy to pick their seats from the table of four they’d been brought to in the restaurant. 

Wendy shrugs her coat off before she sits and loops it around the chair back. 

Claire shrugs hers off after sitting. She’d worn a raincoat that went down past her knees and so sitting on the tan coat was better than dragging it on the floor. 

“Doubles will do that to you,” Wendy points out. 

Claire’s odd Wednesdays are double shifts. Wendy occasionally reminds Claire they don’t have to do this on these Wednesdays. But Claire tells her she can actually drink and not be wary of the time and Wendy teaches on campus the next day so it’s not as if they have to go back to their demanding jobs in the morning. It’s better on Wednesday to actually wind down. 

“At least Chuck should be discharged by the time I come back on Friday,” Claire chuckles to herself as Wendy grabs the happy hour menu. 

“Of course we come in between the two happy hours a day times.” 

“ _Doctor_ Claire has this round,” Claire tells her as she opens the menu to the drinks and sets it down so they would both be able to read it. 

Wendy shakes her head. Claire had made sure Chuck knew she was a nurse and not a doctor, but he kept calling her ma’am or Doctor Claire. 

“Jed tells me you’ve been here. So, what’s good?”

“I’ve tried the flights for range. I was also stuck watching soccer for hours. So, I needed some variety.” 

Wendy can’t hide the small snort as she laughs, imagining Claire here with Jed as he dressed in some team colours and cheering for goals when they did happen. Jed and Andrew went to the occasional Major League Soccer games when Toronto FC played. They always went when the Colorado Rapids played in Toronto since that was Andrew’s team. One time, when the Rapids had been playing, Jed found out he knew the team doctor was a colleague over at St Josephs and the colleague knew the Rapids team doctor and let Andrew get a few autographs and photos with the team. 

“I could have rescued you,” Wendy points out. 

“Jonah was here,” Claire shrugs. 

Jonah really enjoys Claire, both as an individual person and as his father’s girlfriend. They have a surprising amount of likes in common and Jed can’t help but grin whenever they have their unofficial family weekends. Claire and Jonah coordinate schedules and Jed shows up with food, drink, and plenty of free time. 

Their waitress shows up and Claire goes with the Canadian whisky flight. Wendy does the Isles of Scotland flight. And Claire asks for an order of halloumi fried cheese sticks. 

“Halloumi?” Wendy asks with a raised brow. When Jed said they were known for their cheese sticks, she had assumed they were the standard, breaded, fried mozzarella ones.

“Only the best, fancy cheese for dealing with today,” Claire notes. 

Wendy nods her head. She understands perfectly. Winter brings out all the crazies.

“Andrew and I often had watermelon and halloumi in Cyprus. It's delicious. It's also expensive here.”

“We should steal that recipe for Canada Day. You know, when it’s not so rainy and depressing and watermelon is in season.” 

Wendy nods in agreement. Every other July 1st, they all take a long weekend and head up to Claire’s mother’s lakehouse and spend the day on the water.

Soon enough, their waitress returned with their three taster glasses on a plank for each of them.

“To Doctor Claire,” Wendy says as she lifts the first tasting size tumbler into her hands and in the air.

“Nurse Wendy,” Claire returns with a smirk as she does the same.

Their glasses clink and they take their first sip. 

The first for Wendy, Ardbeg Kelpie, tasted a bit like the open ocean's air but a little smokier. A tasting was fine, but Wendy wouldn't necessarily get it as a pour.

Claire’s first, the Still Waters 1+11, reminds her of autumn. There's a hint of almond toffee flavour, with cardamom and citrus rounding it out a little. It would be a good one as a regular sipping whisky instead of just a taster.

Claire sighs and they talk shop for the briefest of moments. Scuttlebutt is Woolsey is looking to take a position at York Memorial instead of staying at Toronto West because he’s not appreciated. Dutton doesn’t know him but Jed’s seen the candidate list and there are much better physicians scheduled for interviews. Claire just wanted to warn Wendy in case the doctor came sauntering in.

When their waitress brings out the appetizer of six fried cheese sticks, they are stacked like Jenga blocks with ranch and a chipotle huckleberry compote as dipping sauces. 

“I feel very American right now,” Claire points out as she forks a piece of the fried halloumi and puts it on her appetizer plate. She grabs the ranch and huckleberry compote, spilling some onto her plate so she can dip it more than once. Wendy grabs the compote and does the same.

Claire looks around at the few diners in their area. She knows it's a little more upscale, so, grabbing the fancy cheese stick with her fingers and dipping might be frowned upon. They both use their knife and fork as they look around. 

She meets Wendy’s eyes as they both cut the first bite. 

“This is Jed’s rarified air territory,” Claire points out as she laughs aloud. 

“Considering I had to ask for marinara and they only have pizza sauce,” Wendy trails off as she lifts her fork with a laugh. 

“This is good, though,” Claire points out the ranch.

“I know you don’t like marinara unless it's your mother’s,” Wendy points out. “But ranch and cheese?”

“Don’t knock it until you try it,” Claire nods to the dip.

Wendy shakes her head with a chuckle.

“So, family weekend,” Wendy says more than asks as she finally gets her pizza sauce and cuts her cheese stick into six mini pieces.

Claire eats another piece of her cheese stick before she starts to laugh thinking about their long weekend two weeks ago. 

Jonah’s university in the States is big on event weekends. It’s especially true for events close to the holidays. There’s a mother’s weekend and a father’s weekend during May and June, respectively. There is also a family weekend just before the American Thanksgiving and Jonah invited his mother, his father, and their respective partners. 

“God, can Katherine hold a grudge,” Claire shakes her head a little, remembering the looks Jed often received from his ex-wife through most of the weekend. “I think she was honestly surprised he even showed up.”

Perhaps the Jed Bishop before the accident would have scoffed at a weekend away to have a paint and sip party in the quad and various sports things like family tug o’ war and flag football and relay races. Maybe he had done so the first year Jonah had invited him to this event. But he’s been given a second chance to make it right with his son and make it right with Claire. And they’re all learning to adapt to this newfound interest in doing better and being present. 

They had arrived in the late afternoon after a long line at Customs at Burlington and then the hour drive to Middlebury that took closer to two hours with the holidays approaching. They had made it just in time for the evening sitting of the paint and sip where families painted a set piece of artwork along with an instructor onto a small canvas while drinking wine and eating various appetizers.

Claire takes a moment from the retelling of their weekend to grab her second taster.

"Oh, man," Claire coughs a little as she sips the Proof 2011 taster. "This worked as a cocktail but not as a sipping whisky." She clears her throat as she cuts a piece of her cheese stick and dips it in the huckleberry compote before continuing.

Claire doesn’t really have an artistic bone in her body, so her painting of the fall foliage on the lakeshore was more an interpretive painting when compared to Jonah's own that actually looked like the artwork they were supposed to end up painting. Jed hadn’t fared much better than her.

It was actually Katherine, in the middle of mixing two blues and a green to get some sort of water-like colour, who asked if Jonah had declared a major.

Jonah paused in helping Claire try and salvage what was supposed to be a log on the shoreline and looked between his mother and father. He had. He was going to major in environmental science with a minor in French and hopefully assist various countries in finding alternative renewable energy sources.

“I got served the look when Jonah started talking about how the painting reminds him a little of the trip he took up to my mom’s house with us a few months ago before he started back up in school. We’re, uh, pretty sure she blames me for his hippie degree.”

Wendy hums. She takes a sip of her second whisky. The Talisker Isle of Skye is mellow and has a bit of a vanilla malt flavour at the end. She feels like this would be best sipped at the lake as they sit around the fire under the night sky.

“I don’t think you can find anyone at the hospital who would say Jed had been keen on a lot of vacation time to sit at a cabin when they were married,” Wendy points out. 

Jed and Katherine had already been divorced by the time she arrived at York Memorial. But Claire had seen him married, separated, and divorced. And she often teases Jed about taking more time off from their lives burdened by glorious purpose. 

Claire shrugs. It’s true.

“As for his degree choice, it’s at least a science degree. Isn’t that school a hippie school anyway?” Wendy tries.

“Jed told him whatever makes him happy. Simon started asking all kinds of carbon questions.”

Wendy laughs as she finishes off her cheese stick.

Claire moves on to her final one as she segues. 

“Simon seems like he’s good for her, though. Works a normal job.”

“I thought he was the osteopath?” Wendy wonders. 

Claire hums her no. 

“Teacher.”

“Oh,” Wendy nods slowly. “Don’t teachers have practically the same hours as doctors?”

“But he can do the lesson planning and grading papers at home when he’s not actually teaching the kids,” Claire points out. Jed couldn’t exactly be an emergency room doctor in the middle of his living room or in an office at his residence he had once shared with his family.

Wendy concedes the point. As long as Katherine is happy with her life.

“It got a little better by Sunday morning,” Claire said between bites. “I don’t think they’re ever going to be friendly exes, but I think they’ll be cordial enough.”

Wendy watches as Claire leans back against her chair with her third tasting tumbler in her hand as they wait for their sliders from the kitchen. The third for Claire is the White Owl whisky which doesn't look like a whisky. The pale liquid is more like the colour of vodka than a caramel coloured whisky. It's light, a little sweet, and the smell ironically reminds her of the hospital after the cleaning crew has sanitized the room. It tastes like vanilla and nothing like any cleaning product, Claire notes thoughtfully. She imagines it's more a mix than a sipping whisky, but it was a good note to end on after their unique dinner of appetizers.

“So, how was Andrew’s high school reunion?” Claire asks with a smirk.

“Let’s just say at forty years, a lot of the guys had let themselves go. Especially the jocks.”

Claire bites her lip to keep from laughing out loud and looks down at her plate.

Andrew Atwater was fit. She’d seen his nerdy self in his high school yearbooks when they’d gone over to their house before learning of the reunion. He likes to take care of himself. Much more fit than Jed, but he is also retired Air Force and keeps up with his workouts.

Wendy continues relaying highlights and low points of the reunion as the sliders and fries come out of the kitchen and are exchanged for the empty cheese sticks plate. Claire requests a ranch to dip her fries. Wendy opts to ask for ketchup.

Claire puts the extra pickles on one of her little burgers and takes a bite, a little thankful to have a little more substance in her system than just fried cheese and whisky.

Wendy piles some fries on her plate before grabbing a burger, eating a few fries before she lifts her third taster.

The final taster for Wendy, an Arran Malt 12 year, was like a dessert tasting. It warmed her from the inside and complimented the smokehouse barbeque sliders they split as they made Christmas plans. 

Wendy, Jed, and Claire all had Christmas Eve off but will work Christmas Day. Bash and June are working both days - the former didn’t celebrate and the latter has never requested either day off in the four years of her residency. Theo and Mags have both days off. Theo would be in Sudbury. Mags will enjoy family time for two whole days, still getting used to mandatory time off.

“So,” Claire sighs as she leans back and takes a few of the remaining fries. “Would you come back?”

Wendy nods.

“Maybe not get the first one,” she says as she points to the first taster. “But the other two were perfect for lake days.”

Claire smiles a little.

“And definitely a few rounds of the cheese sticks would be welcome any day of the week.”

“Fried cheesy goodness,” Claire laughs.

* * *

Wendy drops her off at her apartment despite Claire’s protest that she can just take the metro since Wendy lives on the other side of town.

As always, Wendy ignores her protests and tells her it's not an inconvenience. 

Claire thanks Wendy and walks the few steps from the sidewalk to the building’s entrance where she is greeted by the security guard before heading to the elevator. 

As she rides from the lobby to the seventh floor, Claire muses that she doesn’t mind a night to herself, even if she is getting used to sleeping next to Jed. 

When she gets inside her place, she locks up and toes off her shoes as she puts her keys in the bowl near the entryway. She slides the shoes just out of the way of the door and hangs her raincoat on the rack and sets her bag beside the wall. Foregoing any lights, because she knows her way around and the city lights bathe the apartment in a hazy, muted fluorescent glow, it’s an easy walk to her bedroom. 

When she gets there, there’s a lump of sheets and a blanket on one side of the bed with tufts of hair barely visible on this side of the room. She quietly steps closer. She can’t make out the colour in the dark but she knows who it is and shakes her head as she moves to her washroom. 

After completing her usual bedtime routine, she shuts off the light and navigates her room in the dark, moving under the sheets. She’s not quite touching him, but his lower half does seem to be more on her side of the bed than his. She can tell by his breathing that he’s not asleep but more in a slightly alert state. She lays down and looks over at his sleeping form. Well, what she can see since he’s still mostly wrapped in her blankets that usually sit on the end of the bed unless the winter chill permeates the room. 

In fact, since she’s washed her face, brushed her teeth, thrown on a T-shirt he left here and slipped into bed, he’s covered most of his head. She gets it. The light was bright even if she shut the door almost all the way while she completed her bedtime routine. But it’s dark and she’s a little chilly from outside as early winter slowly gives way to the arctic chill that happens in mid to late winter months. It hasn’t snowed yet, but it’s supposed to in a few days and she and Wendy have changed the schedules to meet the anticipated demand of their people as the city dwellers forget how to drive in the rain, sleet, and snow. 

“I gave you that key to use in case of an emergency,” she points out as he moves in his self-made cocoon and wraps an arm around her. A quarter of the blanket is sort of wrapped around her chest as he pulls her in towards him.

“It was an emergency,” he tells her sleepily. 

“An emergency?” She asks with skepticism lacing her question. She doesn’t even bother raising her brow in amusement because it’d be lost on him with the darkness of her room and how he hasn’t opened his eyes. 

“I don’t have any coffee,” Jed interrupts her musings. 

She laughs quietly. Her fingers move the blanket and sheet mass so she can see his face and her fingers move over his jawline. 

He cracks open an eye. He’s more alert but still mostly sleepy. 

“Coffee is your emergency.” 

“Mmhm,” he hums as she scoots closer as she moves his cocoon to more of a shared space of sheets and blankets.

“You’re something else, you know that,” she points out with a sigh. 

“Mmh, but you love me anyway,” his fingers slip under her T-shirt and trace patterns on her skin. 

“Unfortunately,” she says with a laugh and counters her sentiment by moving closer to him and pressing her lips to his skin. “You're lucky I didn’t tell Wendy to just drop me off at your place instead.”

He chuckles and it sounds against her ear. 

“You knew I’d be here,” Jed hums against her.

She moves her hand to hold his that slowly traces a pattern on her skin underneath her shirt.

“Probably unconsciously,” she agrees.

He hums again and she’s not sure if he’s agreeing because he thinks so too or if he’s just wanting to sleep again.

So, she closes her eyes, content to drift until sleep overtakes her, too. 

**Author's Note:**

> An executive decision was made to basically render Joe Flan (Joe Flanigan) as Eric and so it shall be. Another executive decision is that Wendy and Claire are BFFs that can't be swayed and love food and drinks and getting away from the hospital.
> 
> (part two is coming soon. i wanted to get part one out.)


End file.
